Giving a speech for eternity

On Monday, Barack Obama will exercise the rarest of presidential prerogatives: he’ll deliver a second inaugural address, a privilege accorded only seven other presidents since the dawn of the 20th century.

It’s not a moment to be taken lightly or overlooked, for it’s neither misleading nor overstating the case to say that as soon their hand comes off the Bible at the swearing-in ceremony, second-term presidents typically replace their old decision-making filter — winning reelection — with a new one: legacy.

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Woodrow Wilson’s second term was singularly focused on “peace without victory” and the creation of the League of Nations — a cause that drove him to exhaustion but was simply ahead of its time. Richard Nixon’s legacy would have undoubtedly been détente and the opening of relations with China had Watergate not derailed his presidency. Ronald Reagan’s second-term agenda was little more than tax reform and driving the Soviets to the brink of disunion, both of which incidentally have come to form the nucleus of his presidential legacy.

And it all begins with the inaugural speech, an unparalleled moment when the gaze of the nation is steadfastly affixed to the president’s vision for the future. No other assemblage — not the State of the Union, news conferences or even times of national calamity — can enjoin the moment and the man to posterity in such an indelible and unequivocal way.

Great inaugural speeches — the ones that most Americans can recognize from a few choice lines — are more than just a collection of soaring prose and punchy aphorisms, though those are certainly critical ingredients for creating a timeless paean.

At the heart of it, there’s a simplicity that goes with the elegance, a singularity of thought that leaves no ambiguity as to the challenge that lay ahead. Abraham Lincoln’s first was about preserving the Union while his second — recognized by many historians as the finest of its kind — focused solely on healing the nation. “With malice toward none, with charity for all,” he concluded, “let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.” How history would have differed had he lived through Reconstruction.

With his first inaugural — delivered at the height of the Great Depression — Franklin D. Roosevelt was purposefully vague on policy prescriptions, instead choosing to gird the nation’s spirit and strengthen its resolve, reminding that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

John F. Kennedy’s sole inaugural address, which ranks alongside Lincoln’s two for pure eloquence, more than met the moment as America struggled to regain its footing following a series of Cold War setbacks. In addition to putting the world on notice that “the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans,” he implored his fellow Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”

For someone as gifted an orator as Obama, he’s delivered few memorable speeches — save his recent eulogy in Newtown — since entering the Oval Office, which may be nothing more than a stark reminder of Mario Cuomo’s admonition that you “campaign in poetry but govern in prose.” Between the collapse of the financial markets, the seemingly endless government bailouts, overhauling the health care system and the Arab Spring, there’s been an abundance of prose but surprisingly little poetry.

With his speech on Monday, Obama has the opportunity — perhaps his last best chance — to more than just bring poetry back to the public square but, rather, to author a speech for the ages, one with the requisite rhetorical flourishes, memorable phrases, latent symbolism and clarion call to action that have come to define the classic inaugural speeches.

And it would check a critical box in the quest for presidential immortality, for to be considered among the giants to have held the office, a memorable inaugural is necessary though not sufficient.

Whether or not it’s regarded as a classic or quickly forgotten may come down to a matter of focus. The natural urge is to cover as much territory as possible, but if history has proven anything about inaugurals, the ones that stand out are the ones with the simplest message.

The issue that will dominate our politics for the next two decades will almost certainly be long-term entitlement obligations — it threatens our nation like the sword of Damocles. Should the president make comprehensive reform the focus of his final four years in office — as many are hoping he will — a good place to begin would be the opening words of his second term.

Nick Ragone is partner and director of Ketchum’s Washington office, and the author of four books, including his most recent: “Presidential Leadership: 15 Decisions That Changed the Nation.”